Politics

A wave of states are implementing or considering laws that would require a government photo ID to vote. Some say the laws could disenfranchise voters, others say ID is required for basic needs. Host Michel Martin talks with journalist Kristal Brent Zook and Abigail Thernstrom of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

The Tea Party has been a major political force behind shaping the current Congress and choosing the GOP's rising stars. The Christian Broadcasting Network's David Brody says the power behind the Tea Party comes from conservative Christian evangelicals. He talks with host Michel Martin about his recently released book, Teavangelicals.

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It's MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

And I'm Renee Montagne. Good morning.

We're going to start this morning by visiting two swing states seen as crucial to each presidential candidate: one is Florida, the other Colorado, where President Obama this week sampled Mexican food in Pueblo, courted women voters in Denver, and dropped by the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.

Our coverage starts with NPR's Scott Horsley.

As the presidential election nears, Morning Edition has begun a series of reports from an iconic American corner: First and Main. Several times in the next few months, we'll travel to a battleground state, then to a vital county in each state. In that county, we find a starting point for our visit: First and Main streets, the intersection of politics and real life.

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From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Audie Cornish.

MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

And I'm Melissa Block. President Obama barnstormed through Colorado today holding rallies in Pueblo and Colorado Springs. It's his second full day in the state, one of a handful of battlegrounds that could decide the November election. As NPR's Scott Horsley reports, the president touted his support for clean energy and reached out to Colorado's growing Latino population.

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Citing a loss of confidence in the book's details, Christian publisher Thomas Nelson is ending the publication and distribution of the bestseller, The Jefferson Lies: Exposing the Myths You've Always Believed About Thomas Jefferson.

How many votes can President Obama gain or Mitt Romney lose because of the Republican's opposition to renewing federal tax credits to wind energy producers? The answer, with apologies to Bob Dylan, is blowin' in the wind.

Obama hopes to influence the answer by relentlessly pounding the all-but-official Republican presidential nominee's opposition to the renewal.

This week, the presidential campaign has been dominated by debate over the welfare law from the 1990s. It's just the latest example of how both sides are trying to use the Clinton years to their advantage — portraying them as a halcyon golden age.

Well, tracking changes to prominent politicians' Wikipedia pages had been one way of trying to get advance notice of Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney's vice presidential pick.